


Alternatives

by Lampshadez



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, but no character death, shooting mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-23
Updated: 2016-08-23
Packaged: 2018-08-10 16:04:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7851829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lampshadez/pseuds/Lampshadez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nicole gets shot protecting Wynonna and it puts everyone on edge.  How does Waverly react to Nicole getting hurt?  How does Wynonna react to Nicole getting hurt for her?  Why does Waverly (then Wynonna) blame Dolls?  What old-timey wisdom will Doc spout out next?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alternatives

Wynonna cautiously sat in a seat one seat away from Waverly in the hospital surgical wing waiting room.

Waverly didn’t look up, but Sheriff Nedley – who was sitting at the other end of the small room – did.  Wynonna ignored it.

“How are you doing, baby girl?”

“I told Doc I wanted to be left alone.”

“I think what you told Doc was that you didn’t want to see me or Dolls,” Wynonna said.  Nedley looked up at that, too, and she stared him down.

“Waverly, let me refill your coffee,” he said, taking the empty cup from the table next to her.

“Thank you,” Waverly said, tiredly but warmly.

Nedley gave her a small smile – which was still the biggest Wynonna had ever seen from him – and gave Wynonna a bit of a nod.  He headed off.

“Waverly, that was hours ago,” Wynonna said.  “I thought maybe you’d like some company.”

“Yeah, well, you thought wrong.”

“Can I call someone?” Wynonna asked.  “You won’t talk to me, you won’t talk to Dolls, and I don’t know why but I can call someone.”

“You don’t know why?” Waverly said with a bitter laugh.

Wynonna’s jaw clenched.  “I mean, yeah, I understand not wanting to talk to me.  Nicole took a bullet for me-.”

“She took three bullets for you,” Waverly said tensely.  “Without a vest.”

Wynonna picked at the tears in the knees of her jeans.  She was too deep into this conversation to turn back but she was maybe thinking she shouldn’t have started it in the first place.

“I know,” Wynonna said quietly, like she was admitting it.  “And I’m sorry, Waverly, I am so sorry that Nicole got hurt.  Hate me, blame me, do whatever you need to.”

Waverly could hear Wynonna’s voice crack the slightest bit while saying those last few suggestions.  “I don’t hate you,” she said.

“But blame is on the table?” Wynonna joked.

Waverly finally looked at her, a little impulsive glance over.  “You might need to talk to Dolls about that,” she muttered.

“What did Dolls do?” Wynonna asked, suddenly very stern.

Waverly blinked a few times, and realized she’d spoken out loud.  “Nothing,” she exhaled, shaking her head.  “Don’t worry about it.  Forget I said anything.”

“Waverly, what the hell did he do?”

Waverly took a deep breath, and told Wynonna.

**-WE-**

“What the hell is the matter with you?!” Wynonna exclaimed, walking up to Dolls and punching him in the arm.

“A situation has come up, let me call you back, ma'am,” Dolls said into his phone.  He hung up the call and turned to Wynonna.  “Yes, Earp?”

“What the _hell_ is the matter with you?”

“Wynonna, I was on the phone with my boss, what is it?”  Dolls was standing outside and it was late at night.  There weren’t many people outside but those who were – doctors and nurses on breaks, mostly – looked over at Wynonna because she was yelling.  Dolls wanted to calm her down, only partially because she was attracting attention and partially because he didn’t like when she was upset.

“You told Nicole to take a bullet for me?!”

Dolls gave her a look but didn’t answer.

“Waverly said you and her and Nicole and Doc have little meetings behind my back and basically decide to all take bullets for me, is that true?!”

“Wynonna-.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes,” Dolls said.  “It is.”

“Dolls, what the fu-?”

“You’re the heir,” he said, whispering harshly to make sure the point got across.  “Alright?  The curse isn’t broken yet and we don’t have another one of you. Everyone in Black Badge is expendable but you-.”

“Bullshit!”

“No, it’s not,” Dolls countered.  “I know you don’t want to hear it but it’s true.  You are our most important asset; you are not replaceable.  We all need to do what we can to protect you.  I made this clear to everyone in Black Badge.”

“Yeah, except me.”

“I made this clear to everyone and gave them the option to back out, no questions asked,” Dolls said.  “None of them did.”

“You don’t get to decide that they need to die for me!”

“No one is dying today,” Dolls said, calm as ever.  He meant it, too.  He put a hand on Wynonna’s shoulder.  “I promise.”

“No one should be getting shot for me.”  Wynonna spoke a bit softer, but she was still pissed and unsettled and all sorts of feelings she couldn’t quite name.  She shook Dolls’ hand off of her.

“They all decided this for themselves,” Dolls said.  “Yes, we had a few meetings to talk about this but it was all just to make sure we were on the same page.  We all hoped it wouldn’t come to this-.”

“But it did!”

“And you’re safe,” Dolls said.  “This is a bad situation, but it could be worse.”

“Nicole has been in surgery for, what, four hours?” Wynonna asked.  “That’s not the worst case scenario?”

“It’s not,” Dolls said.  “I know it, you know it.  Nicole knew it.”  Wynonna gave him a look.  “Waverly knows it.”

“It’s not fair,” Wynonna said, voice thick.  The emotion of the day was hitting her finally.  From the instant she saw Nicole jump in front of her hours earlier, she’d been blocking any replay of that moment in her head.  It was coming back. She could see it, she could hear the sounds of the gunshots.  She could hear the sounds Nicole made when she got hit. She could see the blood pouring out of the holes in her chest, she could see herself lift Peacemaker and put that revenant down, then drop Peacemaker and fall to her knees beside Nicole.  She could feel Nicole’s blood running through her fingers.  She could see Nicole’s wild, pain-filled eyes frantically searching the room and seeing Wynonna, but wishing she was another Earp.  She could hear Nicole weakly call out for Waverly, underneath Wynonna’s repeated assurances that Nicole would be just fine, and that sound, that particular calling of her sister’s name that sent a shiver down her spine that didn’t feel like it would ever go away.

All this was replaying in Wynonna’s head.  She had fought so hard against feeling all this shit, she wanted to be available to be there for Waverly but now that things were clearer, she couldn’t run from her feelings anymore.

“I know,” Dolls said.  “The doctors up there are doing everything for Nicole.  The rest of us will be back at work soon and I will do everything I can to make sure this never happens again.”

Wynonna looked out into the street.  She watched a car as it drove past.  She was used to being in Purgatory, and Purgatory was always dead quiet this time of night.  The city was different.

“I swear, Dolls.  I’m going to send them all back to hell.  Every single one of them.”

“I know,” Dolls nodded.

**-WE-**

When Wynonna came back inside a while later, Nedley was back in the waiting room and Waverly was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did she go?”

“Nicole’s out of surgery,” Nedley said.  “She’s stable, she’s doing okay.  Waverly promised to keep me updated.  It’s getting late though, I need to get back to Purgatory.”

Wynonna nodded.  She took a moment before responding.  “Thank you for being here.  I’m sure Nicole appreciates it.”

Nedley nodded.  “Yeah, you too.  Good night.”

“Good night.”

**-WE-**

Waverly was in Nicole’s room, waiting for her to wake up.  Usually, hospital policy was that family members had to wait outside until the patient woke up, but Waverly flashed her badge and her ring and was allowed into Nicole’s room.

So, she sat by Nicole’s side for who knows how long.  She wanted to look at Nicole.  She was so grateful that she was alive that she never wanted to take her eyes off of her again.

But she didn’t want to look at Nicole.  She looked so…unwell.  Waverly had never seen Nicole in such a bad way before.  She was so pale.  She had a breathing tube down her throat, IVs and wires all around her, connected to a hive of machines at the head of her bed.

She sat there, holding Nicole’s hand, alternately looking at Nicole until she couldn’t take it and looking away until she worked up her nerve to look again.

She didn’t know how long it was, but finally a doctor came in to remove the tube from Nicole’s throat.  They assured Waverly that that was a good sign, that Nicole was able to breathe on her own and should wake up soon.

And that doctor was right.

More time passed, Waverly wasn’t sure how much but eventually Nicole did wake up.

Waverly was holding Nicole’s hand when she felt it move.

Waverly’s head snapped up.  “Oh my god.  Oh my god!  Nicole!”

**-WE-**

“Baby, it’s late, you should go home,” Nicole said.  “Or a hotel, or something.”

“Absolutely not,” Waverly said.  “I’m not going anywhere.”

“At least let Dolls go home,” Nicole said.  “He’s been waiting all night for my statement.”

“He can wait a bit longer,” Waverly said.  “Please?  I don’t want to be apart from you just yet.”

Nicole smiled a bit.  “Okay.”

“I mean, unless you want to get it over with right now, or you want me to step out…”

“No, of course not,” Nicole laughed.  Or, she tried to laugh.  Her throat was raw from the intubation and she was still really weak.  The laugh came out like a pained cough.

“I love you,” Waverly said, holding Nicole’s hand in both of hers.  She kissed Nicole’s hand, careful not to jostle any wires or IVs  “You know that?  I love you so much.”

“I love you, too.”  She cleared her throat a bit.  “You didn’t call my family, did you?”

Waverly shook her head, jaw tight.  “No,” she said.  “Wynonna said…” She cleared her throat.  “She said you told her not to call them until after you got out of surgery.”

“However I got out of surgery,” Nicole finished.  “Yeah, I think I remember that.  I don’t remember much else, though.  How’d we get to the city?”

“You got airlifted in a helicopter,” Waverly said.  “The rest of us drove.”

“Hmm.  I’ve never been on a helicopter before.”

“I’m sure you could’ve scheduled a helicopter tour or maybe signed up for pilot classes,” Waverly said.  “You didn’t have to do all this to be on a helicopter.”

“Noted,” Nicole said.  There was a bit of a silent moment before she continued.  “I did have to do this, you know.”

Waverly sighed.  “I know.”

“Please don’t be mad,” Nicole said.  “Please-.”

“Hey, no,” Waverly said.  “I’m not mad at you.  I’m really, really proud of you.”

“Don’t be mad at Wynonna,” Nicole said.  “Or Dolls, or anyone.  Except maybe the dickhead who shot me.  You can be mad at him.”

Waverly smiled a bit.  “Yeah, I think I’m going to be mad at him for a while.”

“Wynonna got him, right?” Nicole asked, an edge of fear in her voice.

“Oh, yeah, yes, she got him,” Waverly said.  She kissed Nicole’s hand again.  “You’re so brave, you know that?  I’m so fricking proud of you.”

“You already said that, babe.”

“I know, I know,” Waverly smiled a bit.  “But, uh.  I’m not sure I could’ve done what you did.”

“You could’ve,” Nicole said, sure of herself.  “I wasn’t sure if I could, either.  I know we all said we would, but…It’s different, being in that situation.  It's scary as hell but ultimately it keeps people safer.  And I wasn't just going to let Wynonna die.  By the time I thought all that, it wasn't really a choice anymore.”

Waverly inhaled deeply.  “You’re such a good person.”

“You would’ve done this,” Nicole said.  “Dolls would’ve, Doc would’ve.  This is a good thing, ultimately.  Better than the alternative.”

Waverly nodded, biting her lip.  She didn’t want to think of the alternative.  She didn’t want to think about any possible ending to this in which Nicole wasn’t perfectly fine.

“I think maybe you should just wear a bulletproof vest all the time, though,” Waverly said.  “Just to be safe.”

Nicole grinned.  “Sure, baby.  Whatever you want.”

**-WE-**

When Nicole woke up the next morning, she saw Wynonna sitting at her bedside and not Waverly.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Wynonna said, greeting Nicole.

“Hey,” Nicole said.  She looked around a bit.

“Waves is at a hotel,” Wynonna said.  “Dolls is using Black Badge funds to put us all up, which is pretty nice.  Waves was up all night, we finally got her to leave around five.  She’ll be back later this afternoon, once she gets some sleep.”

“Good,” Nicole said.  “She seemed really tired yesterday.”

“Yeah, which is odd, given how stress-free yesterday was.”

Nicole nodded, grinning in appreciation of the joke.

“So, how’s life with one kidney treating you?”

“Wonderfully.”

“The really kind nurse out there has been giving us tons of pamphlets about support groups and all that,” Wynonna said.

“Yeah, I’m not quite ready for that.”

Wynonna nodded.  “When you are, we’re here for you.  All of us, the whole squad.”

“I know,” Nicole said.  “Thank you.”

“Thank you,” Wynonna said.  “There isn’t really a Hallmark card for thanking someone who took a bunch of bullets for you, but, uh…I appreciate it.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t really for you.”

Wynonna nodded, chuckling a bit.  “Yeah, yeah, I know.  I heard about the agreement to protect me at all costs.”

“Yeah?  You must love that.”

“The last thing I want is for anyone else to die for me.”

“No one died for you today.  And all this, it’s pretty intense.  But I’m going to be fine.”  Nicole spoke like it was the first time she really believed that.  “This was worth it.”

“Really?”

“I mean, would I prefer if you stopped getting in situations where you got guns pointed at you?  Yeah, of course.”

“I can’t believe I’ve gotten you shot twice now…”

“It’s not your fault that Willa shot me,” Nicole said.  “As for this…there was nothing you could’ve done.”

Wynonna shook her head.  “You shouldn’t have done what you did.  Waverly needs you.”

“We all need _you_.”

Wynonna finally stilled and looked at Nicole.  She didn’t know if Nicole meant they needed Wynonna as Wynonna, or as the heir.  She didn’t want to ask and find out.

“And, Waverly doesn’t _need_ me,” Nicole continued.  “Yeah, she’d be sad if anything happened to me but she’d get over it.”

Wynonna gave Nicole a look like she didn’t believe her at all.

“This is bigger than us, you know that,” Nicole pointed out.

“Right,” Wynonna said.  She was trying to think of something to say when there was a knock on the door.  She looked back and saw a nurse in the doorway.

“Sorry to interrupt,” the nurse said.  “We’ve got to run a few tests on Officer Haught…”

“Yeah, I’ll get out of your hair,” Wynonna said, standing.  She reached for Nicole and wasn’t totally sure what to do, so she settled on a light punch to the shoulder.  “Thanks again.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Nicole said.  “Maybe don’t ask me for any favors anytime soon, though.”

Wynonna smiled despite herself.  “Yeah, yeah.  See you later, Haught.”

**-WE-**

Wynonna sat with Doc in the hospital cafeteria, eating breakfast.

“You agreed to this too, huh?” Wynonna asked.  “Getting shot for me?”

“The terms of the agreement were not exactly worded like that,” Doc said.  “But yes.  We all agreed that you need to be protected.”

“Great.  People ready to die left and right to save the heir.”

“No one died today,” Doc said.  “And, it’s not just about saving the heir.  It’s about saving you.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” Doc drawled.  “You’re more than just the Earp heir.  Think of how many times we’ve had to resort to Plan B.  You’re Plan A.  We don’t know of a Plan B for the Earp curse but I reckon we could find one in a pinch.  But we don’t want to.”

“Right,” Wynonna said.  “Because having to find a Plan B is a huge pain in the ass.”

“Yes, but also because a world without Wynonna Earp is unfathomable.”

Wynonna sat back a bit, but it was kind of involuntary.  It was like she was so caught by that statement that she lost the power to sit up straight. 

“Doc…” she said low, almost like a warning.

“For all of us,” he said.  “It is unfathomable.  We talk about saving you because we need the heir, but what we don’t say is that we talk about saving you because we can not imagine losing you.”

Wynonna had been holding his gaze, but she dropped it and looked into her coffee.

“I know you don’t like it,” Doc said.  “People getting hurt for you.  But we’ve thought it through.  This outcome today is already better than the alternative.”

Wynonna took a long sip of her coffee, looking at Doc again, thinking about what he’d been saying.  She was starting to let herself maybe see his point.

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I kind of just got this idea yesterday and ran with it. It's a fic about Nicole that's really about Wynonna. So, let me know what you think, please! Thanks for reading!


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